Thursday 20 November 2014 18:44, UK
Shane Lowry admitted his final-round collapse in last week’s Turkish Airlines Open weighed on his mind as he hit back to claim a share of the first-day lead at the DP World Tour Championship.
The Irishman was tied at the top of the leaderboard after making a flying start to his final round in Antalya, following up birdies at the first and third with an eagle at the fourth.
But he then ran up a triple-bogey six at the short fifth before a double-bogey at the next and another dropped shot at the eighth ruled him out of contention.
Lowry laboured to a 73 to finish tied for 25th, but he will be looking for a significant improvement in Dubai after an opening six-under 66 earned him a share of the lead with world No 1 Rory McIlroy.
"The whole day Sunday and the flight down here you're thinking about it," said Lowry of his travails in Turkey. "It's one of those things. The last 12 holes was just kind of couldn't wait to get here to be honest. But once I got here on Monday, I was fine.
"Obviously, I put myself into contention which is a positive from last week. I'm just looking to give myself the same chance this week and maybe I won't mess it up.
"I have been playing well for most of the year. I've been very consistent. I've been shooting some great scores, making a lot of birdies and I did that today again."
McIlroy was one of only two players to keep a bogey off his card along with Scotland’s Richie Ramsay, who birdied the first three holes and picked up further shots at 14 and 15 to sit one behind the leaders.
"I'm really happy,” he said: “Obviously it was a great start, three birdies on the spin, and then played lovely in the middle, had a lot of chances but just didn't take a few.
"But most important was I stayed patient, stayed with it. I kept on hitting good shots and then took a couple of chances on 14 and 15 and then finished off pretty solid coming down the stretch.
"I played great in the middle part of the season. I know the game is there. It's just a matter of staying out of my own way and committing to it."
